Mechanics CHAPTER 4
HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS
47
V
E R B
T
E N S E
S
H I F T S
Unnecessary shifts from one tense
to another sound unskilled, and may obscure meaning.
For instance, when describing
an event in the past, all verbs should be in the past tense. This
seems like an obvious point, but tense shifts account for a large share of grammatical errors.
Examples
Incorrect:
When
we finished our lunch, we
decide to take a walk.
Correct:
When we finished our lunch, we
decided to take a walk.
Incorrect:
Last
year the governor said he is campaigning for our candidate.
Correct:
Last year the governor said he
would campaign for our candidate.
OR
Last year the governor said he
was campaigning for our candidate.
D
O U B L E
N
E G AT I V E S
The use of double negatives is unnecessary and incorrect. As
with verb tense shifts, the use
of two negatives (such as “I won’t never give up”) in a sentence sounds incompetent, and
obscures meaning. Eliminate them from your writing.
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